This application is a 371 of PCT/AT99/00075 Mar. 19, 1999.
The invention relates to annular chromatographs comprising a particle bed configured between an inner cylinder and a cylinder sleeve and rotating relative to a stationary base and a stationary feeder head with traversing feeder lines on a rotary plate with eluate drainage lines.
The aim consisted in providing an annular chromatograph design that can be tuned to the problems to be solved, not merely by selection of suitable particle bed material(s) but also by its design, particularly with respect to the height of the particle bed, but also with respect to the particle bed density.
According to the invention, this aim is attained by a modular type block system in which different pairs of inner cylinders and cylinder sleeves, in particular pairs differing in their height, can be shifted relative to each other and/or used together. To this end a central column is provided at the rotary plate onto which all components that must be arranged above the rotary plate are strung as it were.
Accordingly, an annular chromatograph according to the invention is first of all characterized by the fact that at the rotary plate a central column is provided which extends upward and through the feeder head, and on which a tightening device serving to press the feeder head on the cylinder sleeve is arranged.
In preferred embodiments, spacer tubes are present on the tightening device, or else, extension pieces are present on the central column, in order to provide adaptation to cylinder sleeves of different lengths. In either case the annular chromatograph according to the invention can readily be equipped with cylinder sleeves differing in their height.
In another preferred embodiment, cylinder sleeves, preferably with different inner diameters, that can be placed one on top of the other and/or inner cylinder/cylinder sleeve pairs which more particularly are shaped as combination members are provided. In this way several particle bedsxe2x80x94superimposed or surrounding each other xe2x80x94can simultaneously be brought into play for the chromatographic separation.
Such combination members preferably contain a fixed particle bed packing, particularly one in the form of a porous matrix obtained by complete polymerization of prepolymer particles in contact with the inner cylinder and cylinder sleeve. Such a preformed matrix is readily cleaned/rinsed after use and can then be reutilized, which leads to an important drop in demand for particle bed material and in the time required for numerous consecutive separations by annular chromatography, since there is no need to recharge the column after each separation while a large number of consecutive separations can be performed as a continuous operation and the annular chromatograph can be refitted extremely rapidly with different particle bed materials.
In preferred annular chromatographs according to the invention, two or more concentric cylinder sleeves with intervening particle beds can be provided while the rotary plate is fitted with matching rows of eluate drainage lines. In this way several separations by annular chromatography can be performed simultaneously in a single installation, and far greater throughputs of the annular chromatograph can be attained.
In a particularly preferred embodiment of the annular chromatograph according to the present invention, the feeder head comprises passages for the feeder lines into which the feeder lines can be inserted and passed through from the interior of the core-sleeve arrangement.
An annular chromatograph according to the invention can additionally comprise a temperature control, for instance by providing heat exchangers for the eluent and/or feed, which in a preferred embodiment are provided in association with the inner cylinder and/or the cylinder sleeve. It thus becomes possible to bring the particle bed to a higher operating temperature for the separation processes or, if necessary, to eliminate any heat liberated by absorption or desorption processes. The heat exchangers used to raise the temperature can be heating devices known as such, those used to lower the temperature can be known coolers functioning as flow-through devices.